And so a rally was organized at lunchtime on the 23rd floor of 14 Wall Street, directly across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, in the cushy offices of John Thomas Financial, a three-year-old investment house. It was much more comfortable than, say, the street.

As Thomas Belesis, the 35-year-old chief executive of John Thomas who hatched the idea, put it, "It's cold out."

Now it was White House desire to attach new regulations and taxes to banks.That mattered less than that you could no longer see how the market was doing.The fact that virtually all of the virtually all-male attendees wore suits...

Is the NYTimes outsourcing its writing, or did they draw straws and make the janitor write that?

ChrisSix:Now it was White House desire to attach new regulations and taxes to banks.That mattered less than that you could no longer see how the market was doing.The fact that virtually all of the virtually all-male attendees wore suits...

Is the NYTimes outsourcing its writing, or did they draw straws and make the janitor write that?

ChrisSix:Now it was White House desire to attach new regulations and taxes to banks.That mattered less than that you could no longer see how the market was doing.The fact that virtually all of the virtually all-male attendees wore suits...

Is the NYTimes outsourcing its writing, or did they draw straws and make the janitor write that?

SirEattonHogg:As someone who occasionally deals with i-bankers, I can honestly say that they are some of the most arrogant, sleazy and unpleasant people you'll ever meet. They deserve their reputation.

Weaver95:F*ck those guys. they may have destroyed the world as we know it.

No, they were doing what was expected of them. You can't blame sharks for being sharks.

You can blame Barney Frank and the rest of the Democrat regulatory committee. They believed it was every gas station cashier's God-given right to own a quarter million dollar home and they removed the controls keeping the sharks at bay.

Nocens:Weaver95: F*ck those guys. they may have destroyed the world as we know it.

No, they were doing what was expected of them. You can't blame sharks for being sharks.

You can blame Barney Frank and the rest of the Democrat regulatory committee. They believed it was every gas station cashier's God-given right to own a quarter million dollar home and they removed the controls keeping the sharks at bay.

Yeah guys. The poorest people in the nation caused a multi-trillion dollar financial meltdown.

Anyhow, if this group was serious about being useful, they'd do something like donate several million dollars to Habitat for Humanity. Or they would give people mortgages on Habitat's model.

One of the cool things about the housing crisis is that Habitat for humanity had the only sane mortgages out there. And frankly, they still do. Every mortgage should be structured like theirs. the economy would actually function, instead of the huge failure that is still being perpetuated.

And so a rally was organized at lunchtime on the 23rd floor of 14 Wall Street, directly across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, in the cushy offices of John Thomas Financial, a three-year-old investment house. It was much more comfortable than, say, the street.

Well, that sure showed US, now I realize what an ungrateful, unworthy little prole I am.

I work near Wall Street (I'm a civil servant, don't worry). There were a few scattered protests when this whole financial crisis happened. I attended most of them. The funny part is how sparsely attended the protests were, so small bankers would laugh as they walked by. A little more than a year later, the bankers have made billions betting your tax money and the internet denizens are "really mad." It's pathetic to see you people post on the internet when I know you haven't done jackshiat besides moan to some other jerkoffs sitting in their basement (yes, I am generalizing a bit here). In my opinion, you have no balls. How many of you actually gone out and protested, written a letter to your congressman, or done anything constructive? Now, I know you can say that protesting achieves nothing, and god knows our government is owned by lobbyists, but imagine a 100,000 people gathered in NY and marching on Wall Street. I guarantee you that would be a message politicians would listen to. People in this country don't protest and as a result, the government truly doesn't hear our voice.

/Getting off my high horse. But please at least consider protesting in your towns and cities, and try to get in touch with like minded people. I personally would love to organize a protest in NY if anyone is interested.

No, they were doing what was expected of them. You can't blame sharks for being sharks.

You can blame Barney Frank and the rest of the Democrat regulatory committee. They believed it was every gas station cashier's God-given right to own a quarter million dollar home and they removed the controls keeping the sharks at bay.

Rozinante:scumshine: I'd like to grab one of those bastids by the hair, drag him out into the street and shoot him in the head with a large caliber revolver. Gawd damn them all.

You have little vision. Shoot all but one. Light the last one on fire.

The cut of your jib, I like it. But why stop there, though? There are many creative methods of executing investment bankers and fat-cat CEOs. Why, there's the guillotine, there's drawing and quartering (my personal favorite), there's lynching (not for use on African-Americans, though I doubt there are very many that high up the ladder), there's tarring and feathering, and of course, there's the tried-and-true bullet-to-the-head.

The executions could be held in Giants Stadium, on a Tuesday night so as to have the greatest length of time to clean up before the game on Sunday or Monday. You run them American-Idol style and give the public the choice of how John Q. Banker gets to die

Bennie Crabtree:lajimi I will always be confused by the US misspelling of chequing.

Anyhow, if this group was serious about being useful, they'd do something like donate several million dollars to Habitat for Humanity. Or they would give people mortgages on Habitat's model.

One of the cool things about the housing crisis is that Habitat for humanity had the only sane mortgages out there. And frankly, they still do. Every mortgage should be structured like theirs. the economy would actually function, instead of the huge failure that is still being perpetuated.

Can you elaborate? I'm just interested in the difference, never having a mortgage.

pesamystik:I work near Wall Street (I'm a civil servant, don't worry). There were a few scattered protests when this whole financial crisis happened. I attended most of them. The funny part is how sparsely attended the protests were, so small bankers would laugh as they walked by. A little more than a year later, the bankers have made billions betting your tax money and the internet denizens are "really mad." It's pathetic to see you people post on the internet when I know you haven't done jackshiat besides moan to some other jerkoffs sitting in their basement (yes, I am generalizing a bit here). In my opinion, you have no balls. How many of you actually gone out and protested, written a letter to your congressman, or done anything constructive? Now, I know you can say that protesting achieves nothing, and god knows our government is owned by lobbyists, but imagine a 100,000 people gathered in NY and marching on Wall Street. I guarantee you that would be a message politicians would listen to. People in this country don't protest and as a result, the government truly doesn't hear our voice.

/Getting off my high horse. But please at least consider protesting in your towns and cities, and try to get in touch with like minded people. I personally would love to organize a protest in NY if anyone is interested.

Yeah those round the country protests before the invasion of Iraq did SO MUCH to sway the opinion of congress.

I am sick and tired of these cowardly whiners complaining about government interference. Those asswipes were THRILLED to suck from the government's tits when it came to getting a bailout. Well, the logical and reasonable consequence of that is that they now must bend over for regular assraping by government--until they die or pay back EVERY PENNY AND TAKE OUT NO GOVERNMENT LOANS AND ACCEPT NO OTHER FUNDS FROM GOVERNMENT.

They're dishonest, cowardly, and anti-American. Real American businessmen understand that freedom INCLUDES THE FREEDOM TO FAIL! They ran crying to governanny. They voluntarily gave Governanny the right to do whatever it wants to them.

And now they have the gall to complain about it--typical Wall Street types. Cowards, whiners, wastes of DNA.